JUNEAU, Alaska (KTUU) – The message from Senate Majority Leader Cathy Giessel, R-Anchorage, to the AKLNG pipeline developer Tuesday was clear: if they fail to deliver more financial information, they’re unlikely to get the property tax bill they want passed.
“We don’t know enough about the fiscal costs for this Glenfarne [the pipeline’s major developer] project,” she told reporters at a Tuesday press conference. “It’s a little difficult for us to say this is the tax relief we should give.”
Giessel, who also chairs the Senate Resources Committee, which has led most LNG discussions this session, said last week she “lost confidence” in Glenfarne to be able to deliver on its promises to make the gas line. Her doubt stems from the lack of one major item: information.
Glenfarne spokesperson Tim Fitzpatrick told Alaska’s News Source Wednesday property tax relief was the gas line’s primary ask of the legislature.
The state’s energy consultant, GaffneyCline, told lawmakers in December the state’s property tax poses the biggest financial burden to the project.
Gov. Mike Dunleavy, R-Alaska, said a property tax bill will be introduced this week. The bill has not been introduced as of Wednesday.
The transparency debate
Getting more information from Glenfarne isn’t as straightforward as it sounds, but across the aisle, lawmakers have been clear that if this gas line is to push forward, more information is needed.
But there is still a divide, and it centers on just how much financial information lawmakers think they should receive before acting.
The Senate Resources Committee, chaired by Giessel, introduced SB 275, “the Alaska Gasline Transparency and Accountability Act,” which Giessel says is necessary to move the project forward responsibly.
“The Legislature faces important questions about the project’s structure and benefits to Alaska,” the sponsor statement for the bill reads. “Key details of project agreements remain confidential, including oversight structures, financial terms and potential state revenue.”
Lawmakers in the Republican minority say it goes too far.
“Simply having [the bill] here is going to have a chilling effect on investment,” Sen. Robert Myers, R-North Pole, said at a minority caucus press conference last week. “If the attitudes in this bill that are expressed are what we are projecting out to investors, especially where we’re altering the deal at this stage of the development, who’s going to want to invest with this?”
The Alaska legislative session ends May 20, and whether any LNG-enabling legislation will be passed hangs in the air despite GaffneyCline calling legislation “essential” for project success.
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